Burning Slow

Brought to light.

Ember buried her face deeper into her soft pillow, hugging its torso tighter, deeply inhaling its sweet sweet scent.

Then she felt her pillow breathe.

She opened her eyes a bit, only seeing darkness.

Well, duh. Move back a bit, Em.

Ember rolled her eyes at her own thoughts, moving back a bit, coming face to face with Nathan's favorite blue shirt/.

"Oh, okay." She mumbled to herself.

She then heard soft snoring behind her. Obviously, it had to be her dad. Similar with her dad that had fallen asleep, she felt calm, even breaths from her best friend, concluding that he had also fallen asleep.

She snuggled into him again, enjoying his warmth.

But after ten minutes, she couldn't fall back asleep.

Welp, I'm already awake. Might as well explain now.

She groaned- she really didn't want to wake up just yet but they had a schedule to keep; humanity to save.

She laid down, her head still on Nathan's lap, facing the ceiling, heaving a deep sigh.

Her eyes wandered over to Nathan's face from the ceiling. She saw clear skin unlike future Nathan that had a light dusting of freckles on his face.

Her hand reached up, poking Nathan in the face.

"Pst, Nat." She continued to poke her best friend's cheek. "Naaaattttt."

Nathan softly groaned, his eyes fluttering open.

Ember poked his cheek again. "Down here, Nat." She said in a low voice.

"I thought we agreed  that you wouldn't use that nickname anymore." Nathan's voice was groggy.

"It's funny how I also had this conversation with future you when I only had like eighty seconds left before I died so I'm gonna tell you the same thing that I told him which is...

"When did I ever follow through with any of our agreements?" She once again, asked that rhetorical question to present Nathan, giggling at her childhood best friend.

"Oh, yeah." Nathan sighed, remembering all the times that he was practically embarrassed in public because of Ember not going with their agreements.

Both teenagers stretched and yawned at the same time. Ember stayed still for a couple more seconds before getting off Nathan's lap.

"I've got some explaining to do so you go and make me something to drink." Ember ordered, shooing Nathan off.

"Sheesh, I did not miss your bossiness at all." Nathan said, walking to the kitchen.

"But you still love me!" The boy flipped her off before disappearing into the kitchen.

She heard soft groaning in front of her. "Oops." She giggled, seeing her dad waking up at their ruckus.

"Mornin', daddy'o." She greeted in a fake accent.

"Mornin', darlin'." Greyson winked, copying his daughter.

Nathan came back to the living room, carrying Ember's favorite beverage- a chamomile tea. He got back to the father and daughter laughing at their non-joke.

"Here you are, mi lady." Nathan knelt down in front of his best friend, offering the chamomile tea on the tray.

"Now I've confirmed that we are a far too weird family." Ember stated, grabbing the cup of tea.

She took a sip, savoring its sweet sweet flavor that she missed so much.

"Well, duh. Non-weird people are boring and do you honestly think that we'll be non-weird people even without these powers?" Nathan emphasized his point by creating a small tornado on top of his hand then letting it dissipate in the open air.

"Well, you are right about that." Ember answered as she took another sip of her tea.

The two men let Ember take a couple more sips of her drink before getting right down to business.

"Alright, Em." Ember sighed at Nathan's serious tone.

Here we go.

"What virus are you talking about?" Nathan continued.

Ember took another sip of her tea, hydrating her lips, before she opened her mouth to answer. "So since you told me that it was October 13, 2228, I know that I'm from two years in the future and in less than three weeks, a virus will spread throughout the Earth and in kill ninety percent of the human population in two years." Nathan dropped the tray he was holding upon hearing Ember's explanation.

"What?!" Both men yelled out.

"Probably should have broken it to you two in a more gentle manner." She said nonchalantly, swirling the tea in the cup, honestly not caring at how she broke it to them.

"No s**t, sherlock." Nathan rolled his eyes, bending down to pick up the tray he dropped then placed it on the table.

"What the hell is this virus and how could it take ninety percent of the populations in just two years?" Greyson asked.

"As I said earlier, a single particle, when inhaled, could slowly and painfully kill an individual. Well, it's slow for the individual but I died in two days so I guess, it's pretty quick." She shrugged. "Also, future you told me that scientists were far too panicked by the virus that you didn't come up with a name for it and just called it the virus." She added air quotation marks to the virus.

"That doesn't make sense." Greyson mumbled.

"Hey, don't blame me. That's what you told me, future Nate and the rest of the world."

"And from that, I can conclude that this is no normal virus." Ember nodded at her father.

"Are you sure?" Ember nodded again at Nathan's question this time. She played with her fingertips while holding the cup of chamomile tea.

"What part of the future did you not understand, i***t?"

"Why you..."

"And when is this exactly supposed to happen?" Greyson asked, interrupting the brewing fight between the two teens. He was already thinking of ways to stop the events that would transpire according to his daughter.

Ember stuck her tongue out at her best friend.

"Just answer the damn question." Nathan groaned.

Ember fell silent.

"In eighteen days. The 31st of October, 2228." She answered after a while.

Both men were quiet, unsure of how to approach the situation.

"Well, maybe it's a good thing, right?" Nathan tried to lighten the mood.

"Good thing?" Ember's head whipped to his direction. "Good thing?! How is it a good thing? Remember when Thanos snapped his fingers and made fifty percent of the population just disintegrate from nothing? Remember that scene, i***t?! In two years, we're down to ten percent, and you have no idea how the Earth looked like with humans on the verge of extinction."

Nathan cleared his throat. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Well, we can't just sit here!" Greyson stood up, determination in his eyes.

"He's also right." Nathan second.

"Of course he's right!" Ember snapped again, waving her right hand in the air. The sudden movement made some of her tea spill out the cup.

Realizing that she was a bit out of line, she cleared her throat then sat properly on the sofa. "He is right. But any proposals as to how we stop this?" Her tone a bit sarcastic.

"You said that the virus-" Greyson also added air quotation marks around the words the virus like Ember did- "will explode on the 31st of October this year." Ember nodded.

"Do you have more information?" Nathan asked.

"Well, it's not just an outbreak. A bomb exploded the evening that it started and scientists found out that the virus came from this.

"Obviously- this bomb couldn't have just grown from Mother Earth herself. So someone must've placed the bomb in Greenland."

"Duh." Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Duh." Ember mocked.

Greyson shushed the two teenagers. "It exploded in Greenland?"

"Yeah, somewhere in Greenland. Living two years after the explosion, we noticed that the virus spread faster in colder places so the someone who planted the bomb- quite geniusly, I might add- placed it in one of the coldest countries in the world. The virus quickly took fifty percent of the world in three days considering that it exploded on the 31st or as we call it, Halloween. With that, we know that mostly children were taken by the first wave.

"After a week, it took ten percent. By the end of November, it had already taken a total of seventy percent. At this, all countries worked together for the well- being of everybody. They advised everyone to stay at home, all their windows closed and they distributed an air purifier tech in each home in the world at impossible speeds.

"By the end of the year, it took another ten percent 'cause the tech wasn't perfect. Families died inside their own homes.

"On January 2229, fie percent was claimed by the virus because that five percent didn't believe in the virus. It was also that month where scientists managed to found a way to let out their homes which are upgraded gas masks. I can't explain how it's made but I know how to do it.

"Then the other five percent was also claimed with time." Ember explained in detail.

"Is there a cure?" She slowly shook her head.

"No cure. Just the gas mask and simple precautions." Then the teenager chuckled, both men looked at her weirdly. "You would expect that the scientists would be part of the remaining ten percent of the world, right? But no- majority of the scientists died mid-year of 2229. The remaining scientists is in the world disappeared off the grid- including you." She informed, staring at her dad.

Both men heaved a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Ember asked, taking a sip of her now cold chamomile tea.

"This is just too much to take in at once, Em." Nathan answered, staring at nothing.

"We've got eighteen days to stop this." Greyson released a puff of air. "This is a s**t ton of pressure."

Ember giggled, placing her half unfinished cup of tea on the coffee table. "You two asked, I simply gave you the answer."

"Did you hear that? She said simply." Nathan mocked.

Ember rolled her eyes. "Shut up y-" She cut herself off.

"What is it now?" Her best friend groaned.

"Why didn't we think of this before?! Holy shit." Ember exclaimed, jumping her best friend and hugging the life out of him.

"Think of what?" Nathan gasped, trying to pull his best friend away from him.

"Nat, you're an elemental!" Ember said as if it was the whole explanation.

"'So?" Both men asked.

The girl face-palmed. "I swear you two are either the smartest or dumbest people on Earth- there is absolutely no in between."

"Alright, Miss Insults-a-lot." Nathan rolled his eyes. "So what if I'm an elemental?"

"I did just say that the virus spreads a lot faster in colder countries." Both men still remained staring at her, expecting her to explain more.

This time, it was Ember who rolled her eyes. "Nathan can control the temperature in the world- make it more warmer except for a certain spot so that the person who will plant the bomb would have no choice but to plant it in that certain spot. With this, we have done a process of elimination." Both men formed o's with their mouth, finally getting it.

"But if we do that, aren't we going to submerge majority of the continents in water 'cause it would melt the ice caps?" Nathan stated.

"Well, you can just restore that after we caught the person, can't you?"

"Using power on the whole world? I can't believe that my own best friend is trying to kill me." He feigned shock, going as far as gasping and placing a heart on his chest dramatically. Then he placed his hand on his chin, pondering it over. "Wait, no, I can actually believe it."

His best friend wacked him in the head before sitting beside him in defeat. "You're right." She sighed. "Well, s**t, this won't work."

Then Greyson got an idea. "It could actually work."

"What?!"

"Really?"

Both teenagers exclaimed at the sometime. Although, the other was ecstatic while the other was horrified.

"But we'd have more spots that are colder. Basically, in spots where there are glaciers."

"So you're saying that we'll need more help?" Ember asked.

Greyson snapped his fingers. "You are correct." He said, standing up and grabbing his coat.

"Well, where are we getting more help?" Nathan asked, also standing up, pulling Ember up with him.

Greyson smirked, turning his back on the two, going to exit the house.

"I'll be back, kids." Then he shut the door.

"What the hell was that?" Both teenagers thought out loud.

Ember sighed, plopping her ass back on the couch. "Welp, there's no use wondering." She turned on the tv then gestured for Nathan to sit beside her.

Ember flipped through a couple of channels before finally stopping on one that was broadcasting the movie Easy A.

"Oh god, I love this movie." She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know." Nathan sarcastically answered, also plopping his ass on the couch, beside Ember.

"Well, I'm sorry." She apologized fakely, even placing a hand on her chest just like Nathan did. "With society all crumbled down, we basically had no cable, no running water, no radios but thankfully, we had electricity for some reason."

Nathan nodded. "Soooo..."

"I feel like you want to ask something but I don't know if it's a stupid question or what." She waved her hands in front of him. "Is it life or death?" She asked before averting her gaze back on the screen.

"Well, no, but-"

"Then nothing.

"But I just want to know if future Nathan had abs." He whined.

"Nope." She answered, popping the p. "Even with practically nothing to entertain us, he- or should I say you- still refused to work for those abs that you really wanted. Now shut up and let me enjoy this." Nathan whined.

"I can't believe that future Nathan never worked for those abs." He grumbled.

"Future Nathan is also you. Now shut up. If you don't, get up and make some popcorn."

"Alright, fine." He groaned, also staring at the tv, deciding to watch in silence.

"You do know that you're still getting the popcorn, right?"

"Yup." Nathan begrudgingly got off the couch and went back to the kitchen.

Ember continued to watch the movie and after a couple of minutes, heard the sound of the popping corn and its scent travel to the living room. She felt her stomach grumble at the heavenly scent.

After a couple more minutes, her best friend walked back in the living room, in his possession was a huge bowl of popcorn.

Ember immediately snatched the popcorn from his hands, stuffing a handful in her face.

"Oh god, we should have stocked up on popcorn before the virus." She moaned.

"Okay." Nathan sat back down slowly, a bit weirded out. "You might as well tell me all the foods that you missed eating during the post-apocalypse event that you were in."

"Oh man, there were a lot." Her words a garbled mess from all the popcorn that she stuffed in her mouth but Nathan still somehow managed to decipher it.

"Go on, name them so we can stock up on it."

And so Ember went on and on about all the food that she missed eating 'cause of the pandemic and the breakdown of society.

After a couple more movies, the two teenagers passed out from all the food that they shoved in their systems. It was about then that Greyson got home.

He was surprised at the sight that awaited him..

I mean, who wouldn't? You leave your house spotless for a couple of hours then come back to two snoring teenagers and food scattered all over the living room.

Greyson massaged his head before walking over to the two teens.

Ember was leaning on Nathan who was leaning on the couch and she looked like she was in a very uncomfortable position with her arm supporting her hand and her leg on top of Nathan's legs.

He knew for a fact that his daughter was in no way flexible.

He rubbed his forehead then washed it over his face, heaving a sigh.

"Nathan, Ember, wake up guys." No response.

"I really don't want to do this." He sighed for the hundredth time this day.

"Wake up!" Nathan jolted straight up and as a result, Ember fell of the couch.

Her father winced, knowing from experience that that was not a pretty experience. That must have hurt a lot, especially on the shoulder.

"Dad," Ember groaned, picking herself up from the floor,  "why'd you do that?"

"I've been gone for less than five hours and this is what you do to my living room?"

"Where were you though?" Nathan asked, yawning.

"I was at the lab getting this." He raised the red folder in his right hand.

"What's that?"

"It's a folder." Nathan answered, not missing a beat.

"I know that, idiot." She rolled her eyes at her best friend before looking back at her dad. "What's in it?"

"All the help that we need." He answered, handing the folder to his daughter.

"Wait, our names are here." Ember raised her brow.

"Yes, darling. That is the list of all the children that was born in 2209- basically all the children that have powers."

"Holy s**t, I thought we were only ones." Nathan piped up, reading from behind Ember's shoulder.

"Well, we think that there are only thirty six children who possess special abilities, all of which were born in 2209- we still haven't figured out how or why. The names of the teens that I was able to contact are highlighted."

"Nick Fox, Rocco Caiola, Kenneth Ashford, Grace Viotto, Astraea Alastair, James and Jacob Caddel?" Ember recited.

"So what are their powers?" Nathan asked,

And a person just sort of popped out from beside Greyson, startling the two teenagers.

"Oh, here's one of them now."

"Kids, meet Nick. The teleporter."